Friday, January 19, 2018

PULL THE LEVER OR PASS THE BASKET



THE SOUL THIEF

I saw an old man praying yesterday in front of a slot machine, a look of hope turned fear mirrored in the shiny glass illuminated by the flashing colored lights. His prayers were drowned out by the noise of others praying. It is an expensive church, but not near as expensive as scheming preacher churches.

© M Durfee
1/19/18


Social commentary in 55 words.  I missed last week. I am at that age now when them I knew in my youth are dying faster, decreasing in numbers. I wish I could say this is a recent phenomenon but I am also of that age when I have seen too many empty skin sacks laying in polished boxes when all I do is look for ways to kill time.

Feel free to write your own whatever ; anything from word porn to deep thoughts—jump in and think about another who started this trend, G-Man who also passed on too soon.

Link your work to VERSE ESCAPE and be kick ass, no subject is off base or out of bounds, no foul balls in this game.

14 comments:

  1. Hard to decide whether a casino or a televangelist's mega church is worse for your soul.

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  2. ... no word porn, no deep thoughts, meouw poppa ... just sayin that i love you as long as we are still breathing ... lots of purrs and smiles ... always, cat.

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  3. The god of chance is a rough god to win favors from, and they always seem to turn out to have the opposite effect than one would think in the end, so the look of fear seems reasonable--and I think the comparison with prayer is all too apt. How many sit in a pew every week on the off-chance gamble it's improving their luck in an afterlife no one knows anything about? Really a sharp 55, Mark, that thinks more than it says. Have a kickass weekend, if such a thing comes your way--there aren't enough of them left to waste.

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  4. I wonder what happened to the camel and the needle's eye... Alas a lot of truth in your words

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  5. Both are gambles I choose to disengage from.Good stuff.

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  6. Both are really servants of Mammon. Matthew 6:24 "You cannot serve both God and mammon (money)"

    LGS

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  7. You make a very valid comment about life - what we choose to worship.. what we do at the end of it all.. Most pensive and on point.

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  8. Money is a strange bedfellow, but one we all sleep with.
    Haven’t enough, put money in slots and pray for fortune – but gambling is a losing game when others greed on others needs. The odds are always stacked.
    Scheming preacher churches…I don’t really want to say anything bar a hope the preacher rots in hell.
    Anna :o]

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  9. Those slots are brutal.
    I lost twenty dollars once!

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  10. Oh, I love this. I prefer paying the slot devil to the stain glassed one.

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  11. Both actions feed something. Only the passer can choose what is best for their soul.

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  12. Your writing is always provocative!

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  13. hello my friend, for starts, those slot machines excite me every time. i never fear, maybe because I force myself to a budget.

    I turned 70 this year and it is weird. I'm still enthusiastic but also infirmed by a slipped disc and man oh man does it hurt. seeking solutions and the worse one is surgery. I'm mostly content these days because I have few demands on me. the manuscript is 98% done, lots of juggles and changes and reordering and expanding and splicing but I'm liking it. soon to start shopping.

    I hope you are well. I think of you often. kiss kiss, love kj

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  14. I enjoyed that. Whether you are praying to a progressive slot machine or to a substance, the only prayers that have been answered in my life are the ones that I pray alone in silence. My nightly prayer is to wake up better tomorrow than I was today. That fills my spiritual bucket with plenty of shiny coins!

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So Walking Man I was thinking...